Boys basketball: Newman builds leads, then holds off Morrison rally

MORRISON – Losing to the rival Newman Comets by double-digits early in the fourth quarter Wednesday night, the Morrison Mustangs weren’t about to go down without a fight.

The Mustangs turned up the defensive pressure and held Newman without a field goal for the final 6:40, but the Comets made just enough free throws and came up with the stops they needed in the final moments to pull out a 46-43 victory in their Three Rivers crossover game in Morrison.

“I think some people had to step up into spots they’re not used to, and we could’ve done better with that,” Newman junior forward Lucas Simpson said. “I think we just need to shoot better and take care of the ball, and keep up our defensive intensity the whole game. But we got the win, and that’s what matters.”

Playing without their senior point guard Nolan Britt, who was injured in the final minute of the third quarter, the Comets (13-4) put themselves into some bad spots in the late stages of the game, and Morrison (7-7) took advantage.

Carson Strating scored three baskets down low over the next three minutes as the Mustangs beat Newman’s 1-3-1 trap, then he hit a 3-pointer with 1:16 to play to cut the deficit to 44-38. A putback by Brenden Martin made it 44-40, then after two Simpson free throws, Danny Mouw nailed a 3 off a Morrison steal under the basket to get Morrison within 46-43 with 16 seconds remaining.

Newman turned the ball over eight times in the fourth quarter, including on back-to-back-to-back possessions in the final minute. But after the final steal, Morrison missed a 3, got the offensive rebound, and missed another 3 at the buzzer as the Comets hung on.

“We just tried to keep pressuring them, not play lazy defense, just get in their shorts and do what we could do to get turnovers,” Martin said of the final flurry. “I think we need to play like that all game, not just the last quarter. If we played like that the entire game, I think we would’ve had a better chance to win and it would’ve been a lot better game for us.”

Newman committed 14 of its 22 turnovers in the second half, and really missed Britt down the stretch. But he hit the floor hard after being fouled on a baseline drive with 57.5 seconds left in the third quarter, and though he briefly returned early in the fourth, he left the game again almost immediately and went directly to the locker room; he did not return.

But Isaiah Williams shot the free throws for Britt and hit 1 of 2, then Padilla hit his fifth 3 of the game before Simpson scored inside off an assist from Cody McBride to give Newman a 40-28 lead with 6:40 to play.

“For the season, I haven’t been shooting very well, so coming into this game and making two 3s early on, that really boosted my confidence to keep shooting,” said Padilla, who also nabbed a pair of key steals down the stretch. “When we ran some plays where Lucas would drive and then kick it out and I would shoot it, that definitely opened up a lot for us on offense.”

After Padilla opened the second half with two 3s in the first 1:18, Britt scored on baseline drives on back-to-back possessions, then hit a pair of free throws before Simpson put back his own miss with 2:20 to go to give Newman a 32-22 lead. Simpson later hit a baseline jumper to make it 34-24, before Williams split the free throws for Britt.

But Strating scored inside with 26.2 seconds left in the third, then hit a pair of free throws to close the period to make it a 35-28 game heading into the fourth, when he found more room to score down low during the Mustangs’ comeback.

“The execution felt a lot better than the first half did. I felt we were getting a lot better looks inside, and we kind of laid off the 3-ball until the end there, when we had to shoot it,” Strating said. “From the start of the season, when we get down, we hang our heads a lot. But tonight, as a team at halftime, we kind of all bought in together and said, ‘Let’s just go out there and give maximum effort.’”

Morrison led 9-6 after the first quarter, when Newman shot 1 for 11 from the field and missed a half-dozen shots at the rim. The Comets’ 1-3-1 made things tougher for the Mustangs in the second quarter, and Simpson’s three-point play and Padilla’s second 3 of the game capped a 12-2 run to give Newman an 18-11 lead with 3:41 left in the first half.

But Morrison got a free throw form Strating and a 3-pointer from Mouw in the final 2:30 of the second period to cut the deficit to 18-15 going into halftime.

Strating scored 20 points and grabbed four rebounds for the Mustangs, while Martin just missed a double-double with 11 points, eight rebounds and two blocks. Mouw had six points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals, and Daeshaun McQueen added six points, six steals and three assists. Chase Newman chipped in six rebounds, four assists and two steals for Morrison, which nearly overcame 24 turnovers to win.

Simpson bounced back from some shooting struggles early to lead Newman with 21 points and 15 rebounds, and he also nabbed five steals. Padilla scored 15 points, and Britt finished with eight points, four rebounds and two assists before his injury. Kenny Boesen grabbed three rebounds and three steals, and Williams also swiped a pair of steals for the Comets. Ayden Batten chipped in four rebounds and three assists.

“Last time we weren’t shooting the greatest against them either, so we turned to our defense again. Once we turned up our defensive intensity and got in the passing lanes, we were doing pretty good,” Simpson said. “But once we got up by 10, we just gave it up a little because we thought we had the game won. We can’t do that.”

“We take away from this game that everybody needs to step up, and that everybody is valuable on the team,” Padilla added. “People just have to make big plays at big moments.”